Many businesses have dedicated communications systems that enable computers, servers, printers, facsimile machines and the like to communicate with each other, through a private network, and with remote locations via a telecommunications service provider. In, for example, commercial office buildings, the dedicated communications system may be hard wired using communications cables that contain conductive wire. In such hard wired systems, individual connector ports such as modular wall jacks are mounted in offices throughout the building. Communications cables are run through, for example, the walls and/or ceiling of the building to electrically connect each connector port to network equipment (e.g., network servers) that are located in, for example, a telecommunications closet or computer room. Communications cables from external telecommunication service providers may also terminate within the computer room or telecommunications closet.
Communications patching systems are often used to interconnect the various communication cables within a computer room or telecommunications closet. These communications patching systems may facilitate terminating the cables in an organized fashion, and may also simplify the process for later making changes to the connections between communications cables. Typically, a communications patching system includes one or more mounting frames, usually in the form of equipment racks. Network equipment such as, for example, network servers and switches may be mounted on these mounting frames, as may one or more “patch panels.” As is known to those of skill in the art, a “patch panel” refers to an interconnect device that includes a plurality of connector ports such as, for example, communications jacks or fiber optic couplers on at least one side thereof. Each connector port (e.g., a jack) is configured to receive a communications cable that is terminated with a mating connector (e.g., a plug). One or more communications cables may also be terminated into a reverse side of the patch panel (the communications wires of each cable can be terminated into individual contacts or couplers such as, for example, insulation displacement contacts that are often used to terminate the conductors of a twisted pair cable, or may be terminated using a connector port such as would be the case with an RJ-45-to-RJ-45 patch panel). Each connector port on the patch panel may provide communications paths between a communications cable that is plugged into the connector port and a respective one of the communications cables that is terminated into the reverse side of the patch panel. Communications patching systems are typically used to connect individual connector ports in offices throughout the building to, for example, network equipment in the computer room of the building.
FIG. 1 is a simplified example of one way in which a computer 26 in an office or other room 4 of a building may be connected to network equipment 52, 54 located in, for example, a computer room 2 of the building. As shown in FIG. 1, the computer 26 is connected by a patch cord 28 to a modular wall jack 22 that is mounted in a wall plate 24 in office 4. A communications cable 20 is routed from the back end of the modular wall jack 22 through, for example, the walls and/or ceilings of the building, to the computer room 2. As there will often be hundreds or thousands of wall jacks 22 within an office building, a large number of cables 20 are routed into the computer room 2.
A first equipment rack 10 is provided within the computer room 2. A plurality of patch panels 12 are mounted on the first equipment rack 10. Each patch panel 12 includes a plurality of connector ports 16. In FIG. 1, each connector port 16 comprises a modular RJ-45 jack that is configured to receive a modular RJ-45 plug connector. However, it will be appreciated that other types of patch panels may be used such as, for example, patch panels with optical fiber connector ports 16 (e.g., SC, ST, and LC ports) or patch panels with other types of twisted copper wire pair connector ports 16 (e.g., RJ-11 ports).
As shown in FIG. 1, each communications cable 20 that provides connectivity between the computer room 2 and the various offices 4 in the building is terminated onto the back end of one of the connector ports 16 of one of the patch panels 12 on equipment rack 10. A second equipment rack 30 is also provided in the computer room 2. A plurality of patch panels 12′ that include connector ports 16′ are mounted on the second equipment rack 30. A first set of patch cords 40 (only two exemplary patch cords 40 are illustrated in FIG. 1) are used to interconnect connector ports 16 on the patch panels 12 to respective ones of the connector ports 16′ on the patch panels 12′. The first and second equipment racks 10, 30 may be located in close proximity to each other (e.g., side-by-side) to simplify the routing of the patch cords 40.
As is further shown in FIG. 1, network equipment such as, for example, one or more switches 52 and network routers and/or servers 54 (“network devices”) are mounted on a third equipment rack 50. Each of the switches 52 may include a plurality of connector ports 53. A second set of patch cords 60 connect the connector ports 53 on the switches 52 to the back end of respective ones of the connector ports 16′ on the patch panels 12′. As is also shown in FIG. 1, a third set of patch cords 64 may be used to interconnect other of the connector ports 53 on the switches 52 with connector ports 55 provided on the network devices 54. In order to simplify FIG. 1, only a single patch cord 60 and a single patch cord 64 are shown. Finally, one or more external communications lines 66 are connected to, for example, one or more of the network devices 54. In many instances, the communication lines 66 would terminate onto a patch panel and be connected to the network device 54 via a patch cord. For simplicity, the external communication line 66 is pictured as a cable/cord 66 in FIG. 1, which may be the actual external communication line or, alternatively, may be a patch cord that is connected to a patch panel connector port which the actual external communication line is terminated into.
The communications patching system of FIG. 1 may be used to connect each computer, printer, facsimile machine and the like 26 located throughout the building to local area network (“LAN”) switches 52, the LAN switches 52 to network routers 54, and the network routers 54 to external communications lines 66, thereby establishing the physical connectivity required to give devices 26 access to both local and wide area networks. In the patching system of FIG. 1, connectivity changes are typically made by rearranging the patch cords 40 that interconnect the connector ports 16 on the patch panels 12 with respective connector ports 16′ on the patch panels 12′.
The equipment configuration shown in FIG. 1, in which each wall jack 22 is connected to the network equipment 52, 54 through at least two patch panels 12, 12′, is referred to as a “cross-connect” patching system. In another commonly used equipment configuration, which is typically referred to as “inter-connect” patching system, the communications path from each modular wall jack 22 to the network devices 54 typically passes through a single patch panel 12.
FIG. 2 depicts a simplified version of an inter-connect patching system that is used to connect a plurality of computers 126 (and other networked equipment) located in the rooms 104 throughout an office building to a plurality of network devices 154 that are located in a computer room 102 of the building. As shown in FIG. 2, a plurality of patch panels 112 are mounted on a first equipment rack 110. Each patch panel 112 includes a plurality of connector ports 116. A plurality of communications cables 120 are routed from wall jacks 122 in offices 104 into the computer room 102 and connected to the reverse side of the patch panels 112. The computers 126 are connected to respective modular wall jacks 122 by patch cords 128.
As is further shown in FIG. 2, network equipment such as, for example, one or more network devices 154, are mounted on a second equipment rack 150. One or more external communications lines 166 are connected (typically through one or more patch panels and patch cords) to one or more of the network devices 154. A plurality of switches 152 that include a plurality of connector ports 153 are also provided. The switches 152 may be connected to the network devices 154 using a first set of patch cords 164 (only one patch cord 164 is shown in FIG. 2). A second set of patch cords 160 (only one patch cord 160 is shown in FIG. 2) are used to interconnect the connector ports 116 on the patch panels 112 with respective ones of the connector ports 153 on the switches 152. In the patching system of FIG. 2, connectivity changes are typically made by rearranging the patch cords 160 that interconnect the connector ports 116 on the patch panels 112 with respective connector ports 153 on the switches 152.
The patch cords in a patching system may be rearranged quite often. The interconnections of the various patch cords in a patching system are typically logged in either a paper or computer-based log. However, technicians may neglect to update the log each and every time a change is made, and/or may make errors in logging changes. As such, paper- or computer-based logs may not be 100 percent accurate so that a technician cannot have full confidence from reading the log where each of the patch cords begins and ends. Accordingly, each time a technician needs to change a patch cord, the technician often manually traces that patch cord between two connector ports. To perform a manual trace, the technician locates one end of a patch cord and then manually follows the patch cord until he/she finds the opposite end of that patch cord.
Due to the large number of patch cords that are typically used at any one time and/or the cable routing mechanisms that are often used to keep the cable of each patch cord neatly routed, it may take a significant amount of time for a technician to manually trace a particular patch cord. Furthermore, manual tracing may not be completely accurate as technicians may accidentally switch from one patch cord to another during a manual trace. Such errors may result in misconnected communication cables which must be later identified and corrected. Thus, ensuring that the proper connections are made can be time-consuming, and the process is prone to errors in both the making of connections and in keeping records of the connections.
Circuit boards that can be added to conventional patch panels to sense whether a patch cord is plugged into a connector port are known. A shortcoming of these circuit boards is that trained factory personnel are typically required to assemble the circuit board that provides the sensing technology to a patch panel. This is because the patch panels typically need to be modified to facilitate the mounting of the circuit board thereto. In addition, the circuit board needs to be protected from damage during assembly. Another shortcoming is that mechanical switches are used to detect patch cord connector insertion and removal, and these switches require special handling and installation procedures to ensure proper operation.